Ford Motor Co. v. Huffman et al. (345 U.S. 330)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 6, 1953 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 345 U.S. 330 · 73 S. Ct. 681
- Docket
- No. 193
- Argued
- December 18, 1952
- Decided
- April 6, 1953
- Term
- October Term 1952
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Burton
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Minton, Justice Clark, Justice Burton (wrote), Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Douglas, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Reed, Justice Black
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Burton delivered the opinion of the Court. In these cases we sustain the validity of collective-bargaining agreements whereby an employer, in determining relative seniority of employment among its employees, gives them credit for pre-employment military service as well as the credit required by statute for post-employment military service. These proceedings were begun in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky by respondent Huffman, acting individually and on behalf of a class of about 275 fellow employees of the Ford Motor Company, petitioner in Case No. 193 (here called Ford). His complaint is that his position, and that of each member of his class, has been lowered on the seniority roster at Ford’s Louisville works, because of certain provisions in collective-bargaining agreements between Ford and the International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, petitioner in Case No. 194 (here called International). He contends that those provisions have violated his rights, and those of each member of his class, under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended. He contends also that International’s acceptance of those provisions exceeded its authority as a collective-bargaining representative under the National Labor Relations Act, as amended. He asks, accordingly, that the…
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